Photoshoot at the Benson Hotel for Annastasia Salon.

Yesterday's photo shoot went pretty well.  We started setting up in the mezzanine and the area at the top of the stairs.  We were a little in the way for people coming out of the elevator on that level so we moved of to the side to stay clear.  There were 2 employees moving supplies in and out of the area and they suggested we use the room right off of the elevator area (cannot remember the name of the room).  I looked at the area and said that it would likely work and we would use that to stay out of the way.  He also said the Crystal Ballroom was not in use and we could use that instead if someone needed the room we were in.  About an hour later, there were people wanting to use the room so we moved downstairs.  That room is beautiful and it worked well for our needs.  We did manage to get a few shots on the staircase as well which came out fantastic.

 

All in all, it worked out well.  We lost a lot of time in the shuffling, but also had the opportunity to try other locations.  We got some great shots while we were there and I will post some when they are ready.

 

Portland Fashion Week Night 4

PFW show was awesome last night. Really fantastic work. Best designer was Mehdi!!  This designer is from Pakistan and the entire collection was one fabulous piece after another.  I am posting more pics than normal because i think that they speak volumes that I neither have the space or the writing talent to do it justice.
Again the show was very high energy, with lots of excitement in the crowd.  I attended this night with Gioia, from Annastasia salon.  I spent most of my time before the show introducing her to all the people I knew at the show. At the time that seemed like a lot :-)

Day 3 of Portland Fashion Week

Another great night with a lot of great designers.  Being Friday night, the show was packed with people and there was a ton of great energy throughout the venue.  I showed up with April from Annastasia Salon and Stacey.  There was a lot of waiting around for the show to start, so I talked with Ed, PFW's official photographer, about the show, lenses, and canine fashion shows.  I also meet a few new people and picked a new spot to photograph the show from.  All in all it was a great night.  Several models were really on their game, showing a lot of energy and attitude.  One of the models, K. Owens, was really playing to the crowd.

I am really looking forward to tonight's show as it should be a lot of fun.

First Day of Portland Fashion Week

Last night was the first night of Portland Fashion Week and my friend Tony Dimitri was showing his collection along with six other designers.  I was excited to go and support my friend and see his new collection. He has been very secretive about it, so this was the first time I had the chance to see any of the new designs.  This was also the first showing of his designs for women.  Needless to say, they were spectacular.  I was joined by a mob of other photographers at the show, which included Quavondo and Ben who were working together, OSI's group, and several others. 

The show started late, because the photographer that PFW had hired to cover the shoot had his flight delayed.  One of his other photographers was there already but only had their "backstage" camera.  I loaned her my 70-200 lens for the first two designers and used my 85mm prime.  When Tony was up I had my 70-200 back as the other photographer had made it to the show with their stuff.  Hopefully they got some great shots using my lens. 

All in all the show was a lot of fun and I was able to meet a lot of great people.  I am looking forward to the show tonight. 

Photoshoot session with Barry Druxman

I had been planning for weeks to go up to Seattle to learn from one of the area's best photographers.   I set up a meeting time with him and started scheduling a crew for the shoot.  I put out a casting call for a model and found one that was looking forward to working with Barry and me on this project.  I confirmed with her a week before the shoot and all wasl ready to go.

As I mentioned in a previous post the MUA had to cancel shortly before the shoot, but I found a makeup artist, Freakishly Beautiful, that was great to work with.  She also offered to do hair but I went looking for a hair stylist as well to make sure she could concentrate on the makeup.  I found one on Model Mayhem that was really excited to do the shoot and I let the makeup artist know that she did not need to do any hair styling since that was being taken care of.
The day of the shoot I got up early and packed up everything in the car and got ready to go.  I left the house at 9:45 and headed up to Bellevue, WA where the shoot was taking place.  It was a bit longer drive then I had expected.  I was hoping to be there an hour early for lunch but it turned out that I got there about 5 minutes before everyone was supposed to arrive.
About an hour before I arrived at the studio, I got a call from Barry.  I missed the call because I was driving at the time, so I pulled over for gas and called him back.  He had just received a text from the model cancelling, I received one as well but had not read it yet.  I started calling everyone that I could think of in Seattle but no luck.  Barry found a model for the shoot and I am very grateful to both him and her for that.
I arrived at the studio and we started chatting while the model and MUA were working together.  I got a text from the hair stylist telling me he would be an hour late.  I figured this would be fine as the makeup usually takes a while anyway.  So at about 2:30 I get another text from the stylist telling me he cannot make it.  At this point I was really upset about this as I have no backup plan one and a half hours into the shoot.  The makeup artist did not bring her hair kit because there was going to be a stylist there.  We had to make due with a thrown together style with almost nothing to make it work.  The makeup artist, Shyn, did a great job with what she had.  I am very grateful for her pulling through like that.  All and all the shoot was a good learning experience but not my best work.  Lots went wrong but I meet a few great people.  I had the opportunity to meet Barry Druxman, found a great MUA in Shyn, and worked with a great model, Lee Davidson.

MUA and Hair Stylist forund for Seattle shoot

Well I finally found a MUA and a Hair Stylist for my shoot tomorrow. Things are on schedule and ready to go.  This should be a fun shoot :-)

Makeup artist had to cancel.

With only 3 days until my shoot with Barry Druxman, the makeup artist I was going to use had to cancel.  So now I am on the lookout for a fantastic MUA in the Seattle area.  I will be posting a casting on ModelMayhem as well as craigslist.  We shall see what I get for responses.  I am quick to adapt to sudden changes, but i am not fond of them.  I will heep you all posted as to the progress.